NYC Climate March and Rally: 9/17/23
Reflecting on the recent NYC climate march and rally, I note:
Response to Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas’ reprehensible antisemitic statement actively harms the struggle against Israeli apartheid by serving as a distraction from Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and by empowering Zionist claims of Palestinian antisemitism. Indeed, as approximately 200 Palestinian academics, writers, activists, and people of all walks of life said in a public statement, “The Palestinian people are… Continue Reading Response to Abbas
What’s Going On in Israel and Palestine? Why should you be concerned?
Why should you be concerned? Israel has long promoted itself as the only democracy in the Middle East—Is that really true? Not for the millions of Palestinian people who live under Israeli occupation. Israeli oppression of Palestinians has been long-standing, going back more than 75 years. In 1948, Israel subjected the indigenous population of Palestine… Continue Reading What’s Going On in Israel and Palestine? Why should you be concerned?
To the Jewish Community of Northern New Jersey
An Open Letter to the Jewish Community of Northern New Jersey From Jewish Voice for Peace of Northern New Jersey Massive demonstrations have been taking place in Israel over the future of its judiciary amid rising authoritarianism. Democratic activism is most welcome, but overwhelmingly the protests do not focus on the more than half-century occupation… Continue Reading To the Jewish Community of Northern New Jersey
Gaza Children’s Drawings Featured in Art Exhibit
Empathy is a wave that need never be stopped. If our children can catch this wave, from the ocean of tears that have been shed by Palestinian children, they might have a future in a more stable and saner world. —Alice Walker, 2012,introduction to exhibit catalogue,A Child’s View from Gaza Montclair, N.J., April 16: A… Continue Reading Gaza Children’s Drawings Featured in Art Exhibit
Why What Happens in Israel/Palestine Matters to U.S. Citizens
As the newly elected far-right-wing Israeli government tightens its noose around Palestinians in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, so too does the noose tighten around U.S. citizens and organizations who dare to criticize Israeli apartheid, occupation, and war crimes. State after state in the United States has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition… Continue Reading Why What Happens in Israel/Palestine Matters to U.S. Citizens
We Should Fight Antisemitism, Not Critics of Israel
We are living at a time of rising instances of virulent anti-Semitism in the United States, endorsed by leading media and political figures. We have just witnessed the reticence of many top Republicans to condemn former President Donald Trump for consorting with rabid Jew haters. In these circumstances, it is natural that people of good… Continue Reading We Should Fight Antisemitism, Not Critics of Israel
University Students and Professors Silenced on Palestine
When I was a student at Oberlin College in the late ’70s, I was encouraged to reach outside myself and become aware of injustices faced by people in our world. I became an activist in the boycott/divest from South Africa movement to free Black South Africans from oppression and apartheid. As was the case at… Continue Reading University Students and Professors Silenced on Palestine
Westfield BoE: Prof. Aziz is not antisemitic.
At a recent school board meeting in Westfield, NJ, several speakers charged board Vice President Sahar Aziz with antisemitism for a ‘reTweet’ recommending an article that argued that the slogan “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free” was not antisemitic. Aziz is the Professor of Law, Chancellor’s Social Justice Scholar, and Middle… Continue Reading Westfield BoE: Prof. Aziz is not antisemitic.
SJP Rutgers Releases Statement on MoU with TAU
This just in from Students for Justice in Palestine at Rutgers, New Brunswick and Newark: The Students for Justice in Palestine at Rutgers – New Brunswick and Rutgers – Newark write this statement to express our dissent and exasperation over the University’s recent decision to engage in a close partnership with Tel Aviv University, as… Continue Reading SJP Rutgers Releases Statement on MoU with TAU